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STEMI stands for ST Elevation Myocardial Infarction. That means the patient is having a heart attack (MI). The literature shows that if the patient having a STEMI can get to the Cardiac Cath Lab and get that artery reopened within 90 minutes of arrival at a hospital, they have a better chance of survival and much fewer complications than a patient who has received Lytic therapy (Clot busters).

With the goal of 90 minutes from arrival at our door until balloon inflation in the University of Vermont Medical Center Cath Lab, the Emergency Department staff is routinely getting these patients out of our Emergency Department and headed to the University of Vermont Medical Center in under 30 minutes, some as fast as 17 minutes. Our average D2B (Door to Balloon) time is 92 minutes. That includes some patients that were here significantly longer than 30 minutes because they were too unstable to leave in an ambulance and required numerous interventions to stabilize before they left.